Keeping Parents Happy Is a Factor

In China, where it is normal for working university graduates to live at home until marriage, parents and grandparents have a big say in job decisions.

While today's twentysomethings have seen only booming economic growth their whole lives, parents have memories of rockier times and are worried about economic growth slowing to "only" 7 to 8 per cent a year.

While their generation was highly entrepreneurial and willing to take professional risks in the 1980s and '90s, they are far more conservative when it comes to their children's career choices.

State-owned enterprises, offering short hours, low stress and little real responsibility, are now the preferred employers among parents, with Fortune 500 multinationals taking second place.

For these parents, salary, level of responsibility and potential for learning and advancement are less important than stability. Is the company well-known? Does it offer good benefits?

A job with more responsibilities can even be seen as a negative as parents don't want their child to get too stressed out.

Daughters are especially coddled. We've seen cases of young women being pressured to turn down dream jobs due to pressure from parents worried that the company wasn't large enough, or didn't allow them to be home for dinner every night at 6pm.

One firm that has recognised this trend and adapted well is Starbucks. The Seattle-based coffee chain shrewdly pitched its staff-training programme to fit within the Chinese family concept and invited store managers to bring their parents to getting-to-know you events.

Companies don't need to go that far but, to stand in good stead with the parents, they will need to emphasise training and stress that the longer the children stay at one company, the better their chances of long-term success in their careers.